Thursday, October 18, 2012

My Review of Dexter's 7x03: "Buck The System"

Dexter: “I want to continue to be honest with you, Deb but I have to be free to be who I am.”
Deb: “It’s a capital offence to be who you are, Dexter.”

To be honest, I wasn’t really all that wowed with this episode, even though there were a string of interesting things that happened in it, it just didn’t really do it for me, story wise. It’s probably going to end up being one of these episodes I may need to watch again at a later date to really appreciate it.

First off all, I really feel that Deb sort of gave in a little too early for my liking when it came to Dexter. Not just with letting him move back to his own place but more with the quick realisation that perhaps there’s a good reason as to why he kills and the people who end up in his slide collection.

The presence of Ray Speltzer, a serial killer who kept slipping through the police cracks almost made it too easy for Deb to finally get where Dexter’s coming from. He made it easy for Dexter to find proof of his own killings of previous victims and Deb herself nearly ended up dying at Ray’s hands when trying to save a girl.

To make it more annoying, Ray managed to actually get away which both Dexter and Deb have another loose cannon around Miami who’ll probably strike at them if they’re not careful. That being said, I do continue to enjoy the dynamic this season between them and I like that while this episode made it clear Deb was beginning to understand Dexter, she didn’t accept his actions either.

Her mistrust of him being alone allowed Dexter to manipulate into getting involved with the Speltzer plotline but it also pushed Dexter into direct contact with Wayne’s ex-girlfriend Hannah McKay and that alone ended being the best and shortest plot of the episode.

I was never a big watcher of Chuck but I do think Yvonne Strahovski’s a good casting choice for Hannah and there certainly seemed to be a little sexual tension between the former criminal and Dexter. In fact I’m wondering if Hannah’s dynamic with Dexter will be more akin to either Lila or Lumen or perhaps a crazy mash up of both. Either way, I can’t wait to see more of the character within the next few weeks.

As for characters I can’t wait to see the back – thank you show for getting rid of Louis so nicely. I loved Dexter ruining Louis by having Masuka learn about the mannequin hand and Jamie learning about the hooker. I had absolutely no sympathy when Louis lost both his job and girlfriend within moments of each other. Given that Louis intended to ruin Dexter, he got exactly what he deserved in that respect.

However as for his death by the hands of Isaak and his men, I still cannot bring myself to feeling a bit bad for Louis. Even before dying, he still managed to drop Dexter in it with Isaak but that might be a good thing in some respects, given that Dexter happens to be unaware of who Isaak actually is and the Russian’s connection to Viktor as well.

I did like Dexter and Isaak’s first meeting in the strip club, both of them sensing that they were there for different reasons compared to other clients. Even though the mobster plot does seem a tad clichéd (even down to the means of Isaak’s ways of charming and threatening a stripper in equal measures), even I’ll admit that Isaak is at the very least a better villain so far than Travis has been. That in of itself is a plus point for this season.

Also in “Buck The System”

Dexter had some killer fantasy moments with a post office worker and Masuka as a means of conveying his frustration of Deb watching him constantly.

Dexter (re Deb): “She’s got me penned in like a caged animal an animal’s never more dangerous than when it’s backed into a corner.”

Maria’s investigations from the first two episodes wasn’t progressed in this one, though I did like her scenes with Deb in this one.

Dexter: “I can promise you if you don’t get off my ass something bad is gonna happen.”
Deb: “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Isaak (to stripper): “He gave me an F, so I pushed him down a flight of stairs. I felt bad about it.”

The stripper that Quinn has been seeing did admit to him that she’s been cosying up to him because of Isaak’s demands. It’s not an interesting plot but Quinn has been less annoying these last two episodes.

Deb: “You knew I was following you.”
Dexter: “I made it easy for you.”

Isaak: “I’m looking for something.”
Dexter: “Aren’t we all?”

Hannah seems to be working both in a nursery and in a hothouse. Angel also seems to be affected by Mike’s killing in a different way too and Wayne’s mother showed Deb some interesting that led them to pursue Hannah for a swab sample.

Dexter: “You can’t change the way you think overnight.”
Deb: “I haven’t. I mean I have but I haven’t. I get it, what you do. I hate it but I get it.”

Chronology: Not long from “Sunshine And Frosty Swirl” left off.

Not a bad episode but for one that should’ve felt prominent, “Buck The System” didn’t really grab me compared to the first two episodes this season. Perhaps it really is one that I need to rewatch at a later date.

About Me

My name is Shawn Lunn and when I don't blog regularly on TV, I write a serious amount of reviews for a variety of different TV programmes as well as comics, books and DVDs pertaining to them (which can be found on my TV Tome and Shawnlunn2002 TVHITS Yahoo Group, also linked here) as well as on this blog. I'm a huge fan of all innovative and smart television.